alderman

See also: Alderman

English

Etymology

From Middle English alderman, aldermon, from Old English ealdorman, ealdormann, from ealdor (“elder, parent, chief, prince, author”) + mann (“person”). See ealdorman.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːldəmən/, /ˈɒl-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔldəɹmən/, (cot–caught merger) /ˈɑl-/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ald‧er‧man

Noun

alderman (plural aldermen)

1. A member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town.
2. (UK, historical, slang, obsolete) A half-crown coin; its value, 30 pence.
   • 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:

     The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

   • [1859, J. C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words:

     Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon.]

3. (smoking) A long pipe for smoking.
   • 1843, John William Carleton, The Sporting Review, volume 10, page 419:

     In one part of Cockaigne an amalgamation of these two last has lately taken place; and the pleasure experienced by the parishioners of Walbrook is unbounded when smoking an alderman and churchwarden.

4. (US, slang) A large, protruding, or swollen abdomen; a paunch, a potbelly.
   • 1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 13, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:

     He'd exercise, get the fat off, because if he let it go, he'd have too much on and maybe make his heart worse, and you looked like hell with an alderman. […] And she wouldn't want a guy who stuck out in front like a balloon.

Synonyms

• baillie (Scotland)

Derived terms

• aldermanate
• aldermancy
• aldermaness
• alderman hung in chains, alderman in chains
• aldermanic
• aldermanity
• aldermanlike
• alderman lizard
• aldermanly
• aldermanry
• aldermanship
• alderperson

 

Translations

member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town

• Armenian: ավագանու անդամ (avaganu andam)
• Czech: obecní starší m, radní (cs) m, konšel (cs) m,
• Dutch: wethouder (nl) m, schepen (nl) m,
• Esperanto: skabeno
• Estonian: linnavolinik
• Finnish: valtuutettu (fi) (current); raatimies (historical), kaupunginisä
• French: échevin (fr) m, conseiller municipal (fr) m
• Galician: concelleiro m, concelleira f, rexedor m, rexedora f
• German: Schöffe (de) m
• Greek: δημοτικός σύμβουλος m or f (dimotikós sýmvoulos)
• Ido: skabino (io)
• Italian: aldermanno (it) m
• Polish: ławnik (pl) m, radny (pl) m
• Portuguese: vereador (pt) m, vereadora f, edil (pt) m
• Romanian: consilier (ro) m, consilieră f
• Spanish: concejal (es) m or f, regidor (es) m or f
• Welsh: henadur m or f
• West Frisian: wethâlder (fy) c

Further reading

• alderman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• almander, malander

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English alderman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.dɛʁ.man/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

alderman m (plural aldermans)

1. alderman

Further reading

• “alderman”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• aldermon
• aldirmon

Noun

alderman m

1. alderman

Inflection

Declension of alderman (masculine consonant stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	alderman	aldermen
genitive	aldermannes	aldermanna
dative	aldermanne	aldermannum, aldermannem
accusative	alderman	aldermen

Descendants

• West Frisian: âlderman